Rings: Two Engagements
by liveepic
Summary: Rings is a twist on the classic love story of the Phantom of the Opera.  This is not like every other fiction you read about the Phantom, it's different...


i don't own the phantom of the opera or the characters

Rings

Two Engagements

By: liveepic

PROLOGE:

The dwelling was beautiful, mystical, and eerie. Christine didn't know what to think as she arrived in the boat with her strange teacher. The man had on a long flowing cape, a fitted shirt and dress pants all in black. As if to contrast his other garments a pure white mask rest on half of his face. She wondered why it was there. What did he have hiding beneath it? The phantom looked at her thoughtfully. Christine sensed that the familiar stranger knew her better than she knew herself.

Was he the angel her father promised? Christine had herd stories of the Phantom of the Opera. She should be scared. She wasn't, this was her guardian and made her voice soar. The phantom leapt off the boat. He then offered her an outstretched hand. If Christine took his hand there was no going back, she was sure of that. The sight of a woman's hand reaching for his presented itself to her eyes. The hand was her own. Did a glimpse of pleasure pass over his face or was it her imagination? The whole situation felt surreal.

While being helped out of the boat Christine gazed around the cave. Lit only by candlelight everything had vast shadows. Mirrors draped with curtains surrounded the land. In the mirror she saw her disheveled appearance next to a tall, dark and handsome man. There seemed to be more rooms separated drapes. In the middle of it all was a massive organ with music strewn around it. To the left or the organ sat pedestal with a figure of a monkey in Persian robes atop a music box.

The Phantom lead her to yet another curtain. He lifted it up to show an exact model of Christine but in a wedding dress. Christine was astonished. The phantom slipped a cold object on her finger. It was a beautiful ring, an engagement ring. In a dreamlike state he carried her body to a bed resembling a swan. A curtain fell behind them.

"Hello my love." Raoul greeted Christine with a bouquet of pink flowers.

"These are beautiful! Let me put them in water." The flowers were truly lovely, all though not Christine's favorite. She preferred the single red rose sitting on the table next to her.

"You did wonderfully tonight. You were the star of the opera, darling." Raoul pulled her into a kiss. He smelled like the outside air, fresh and crisp. He was a striking man. They had been lovers for almost a year and the time they had spent together was the most wonderful occasion of both their lives. Every woman desired Raoul because of his looks, charm and compassion.

"I have a something for you," he stated while fishing around in his pocket. Then he pulled out a small black box. Before Christine could comprehend what was inside the package Raoul started to speak. "Christine, I love you. I'm ready to love you forever. Say yes, make me a happy man."

Christine could utter only one word; "Raoul." She was in aw. He opened the tiny box to show a sparkly ring on a chain. The jewel was gorgeously cut and it captured the light turning it into many rainbows. He fastened the gem around her neck. Christine couldn't help but look at her hand. Resting there was another ring, one just as important and beautiful. Had Raoul ever noticed the peculiar diamond and wondered where it came from? The new piece on her neck felt cool and foreign unlike the other, which she was now used to.

"Is that a yes?" Raoul inquired

"Of course," Christine murmured at first. She added louder, "Yes, yes!"

They meet in an embrace. While holding each other Christine couldn't help be feel guilty. Technically she was engaged to two different men. She loved Raoul but had visited the Phantom numerous times after their first encounter. Her life had become extremely complicated over the last few months. They let go of each other.

"Unfortunately, I must be going. That necklace looks perfect on you. Stay well, my love, until tomorrow." Christine gave him an adoring and understanding look as the door to her room closed. Before the lock even clicked she broke down. Tears streamed down her face and her eyes became puffy. Christine placed a hand on her stomach. A little thud hit it. She couldn't hide her growing belly much longer. Soon everyone would know about her being an unwed mother. Christine felt hopeless despair and love for her unborn child.

The music was soft and sweet. The Phantom's melody rang through his underground cavern. His eyes lingered on Christine affectionately then the organ's song stopped abruptly. She saw him staring at her neck. _Raoul's necklace! He knows, _Christine thought frantically. She knew the Phantom had a fiery temper and grew jealous easily. "Christine!" he bellowed. "You have betrayed me, how could you. You belong to me not him! I forbid you to see ever again, do you understand me?" he roared as he started towards her.

"Please," Christine pleaded. "Please, no. I love him." She saw the rage grow in the visible half his face. Those words had just slipped out without her thinking. Christine was more frightened than ever before.

"You _love_ him? I have given you everything, everything! You don't know what I've sacrificed."

The Phantom's anger turned to anguish suddenly. His expression melted into a droopy frown.

"I," he began, "I love you. How could I expect you to love a monster like me? Go. Go to him and leave me. Never come back here. Marry him and have a nice life, grow old together. Forget me and forget all of this." Christine simply sat there unable to move. "I said GO!" the Phantom commanded one last time. Christine bounded up and into the boat. She started rowing away. Christine peeked back behind her shoulder at the Phantom a final time. _You're half_ she thought and she rowed away forever.

He wandered over to a mirror. The Phantom removed his mask revealing the disfigured face underneath. That face had caused him a life of misery and pain. Because of it he was an outcast to the rest of the world. His world was gone; Christine was his world. Why had he let her leave! He could have kept her with him and made her stay. No, the phantom loved her. He couldn't hold Christine prisoner while she loved another man. The loved he had for her ruined the Phantom's plan of the two spending their lives together. Raoul was a gentleman while he was a sad excuse for a creature.

The Phantom was alone for weeks, wallowing in self-pity, until he heard a sloshing noise in the mouth of his cave. It was a man's figure carrying a bundle of something. As the form approached the Phantom uncovered the identity of the stranger. It couldn't be, but it was. The man was Christine's lover, Raoul.

"This belongs to you," the intruder said. Raoul handed him the bundle. To the Phantom's surprise it moved! He removed the blankets around it. It was a baby, his child.

"Where's Christine?" was all the Phantom could manage to say.

"I don't know. She either fled or took her own life. She left me a note saying to give the baby to you."

"Why did she go," the phantom stuttered.

"Christine came to me. She said she was expecting a child very soon. At fist I was delighted but then she told me it was yours. She begged me to forgive her and except her. I couldn't."

The Phantom was dumbstruck listening to Raoul's story and starring at the infant in his arms. Raoul began to trudge through the water leading out. The Phantom picked up the blankets to swaddle the infant again. Something hit the floor. It was the engagement ring he'd given Christine.

He would name the baby Ariel meaning spirit. And the spirit of Christine would live on through this child.


End file.
